Twitterena in Review – What are you doing today?

One of the best things about the App Store in my opinion is the overwhelming presence of amateur developers. You no longer have to go to the big corporation to get quality applications. Twitterena is one of those apps. It seems like every week there’s a new twitter app being released. Most of them are either lacking in features you would expect to be standard, or have so many features that you never end up using them all.

Developed by Andrew Weekes, a young English fella and jack of all trades (he’s also a singer, pianist, teacher, designer, and more), Twitterena truly was designed with the users enjoyment in mind.

The layout is vibrant and colorful, while remaining clean and uncluttered. With 5 currently available themes to choose from (and possibly more in the works), ranging from simply plain to the truly colorful Clouds or Rainbow themes, you can really make the app suit your personality.

One feature that I thought was particularly amusing is that no matter which way you hold it (portrait, landscape, upside down), the screen swings around to accommodate you. No word of a lie, I probably wasted at least 2-3 minutes spinning it around and watching it rotate to every side. When you hold it in regular portrait mode everything is split both above and below the text box with your keyboard popping in underneath. In landscape mode all the controls are tucked neatly to the side and you can specify if you would rather them be on the right or left.

When you open up Twitterena you are instantly brought to the main tweets page as it refreshes and downloads any recent tweets. After which a badge is posted at the bottom of the screen with the number of new tweets and you are taken to the most recent posting with all later ones below it for you to easily scroll through. The new tweets are highlighted a different color than tweets that were already loaded so you know exactly where the new ones end. This is the same for any mentions (@replies) or direct messages (DM’s) you may have received.

My only issue with this occurs when I am on the main “tweets” screen and I want to go to my mentions (@replies). If I don’t take the time to read any new tweets before selecting and going to another section, it removes the badge and undoes the shading. So if I were to go back to where I was previously, those new posts are not clearly marked anymore. Hopefully in a future release there will be a “mark all as read” button instead of doing it automatically.

As for features, it has all the main ones you would expect of any Twitter client (review/post tweets, follow/unfollow, built in browser, trend search, upload photos, etc.), as well as some nifty extras that definitely separate it from the pack. One such feature is the fully integrated GPS. This allows you to update your profile location or add a google map link from within the tweet posting screen.

Another interesting feature that was added is the addition of bookmarklet compatibility. You can install this from within the Twitterena options under your settings. What will happen is when you click to install it, the next time you load up Twitterena it will open up Safari and load up a page with the instructions on how to configure bookmarklet.

Consequently, whenever you visit a website that you like and/or want to share with others, you just click on your bookmarks and select the “post to Twitterena” link that you setup. It will then automatically load Twitterena to post a new tweet along with the URL of said webpage. The initial setup might be a little intimidating to users but once its up and running, it’s a really handy little tool.

The last thing I just wanted to touch on is the next planned major update that has been advertised, which will be version 3. The additions in this update are huge features, some that no other twitter client currently offers. These include unlimited multiple accounts, custom background images, and an optional Facebook integration. These again are not all the upcoming features (It even states on the developers website that there may be more that have yet to be announced) but when other Twitter apps are asking anywhere from $5-$10 with features like these, the asking price of $0.99 for Twitterena is a steal.

Andy has definitely poured his all into this app and it shows. The interface is clean and clutter free. Bugs to date have been reasonable and he is always willing to help out any users troubleshoot. If you’re on the look out for a Twitter app, I highly recommend you give Twitterena a go.